Adding a Shareable DSN

The Registry feature allows the creation and use of shareable file DSNs by the 32bit c-tree ODBC Driver. The Driver creates unshareable file DSNs automatically when creating user or system DSNs. To create a shareable file DSN:

1. Start the 32bit ODBC Administrator.
2. Select the File DSN tab.
3. Click the Add… button.
4. Select the ODBC driver for which you wish to create a file DSN (either “FairCom 32bit ODBC Driver” or “FairCom c-tree Driver”).
5. Click the Advanced… button and enter the desired driver-specific keywords (from the list above). Both DRIVER= (driver name) and DBQ= (data dictionary path) are required. For example:

   DRIVER={FairCom 32bit ODBC Driver}

   DBQ=c:\faircom\odbc\32bit

1. Click the OK button.
2. Click the Next button.
3. Enter the name of your new file DSN.
4. Click the Next button.
5. Click the Finish button.

If after you follow the above steps, the ODBC administrator returns the error “A connection could not be made using the file data source parameters entered. Save non-verified file DSN?”, you probably omitted needed parameters or specified invalid parameter values (see step 5 above). Click Cancel and start over at step 1.

After a file DSN is successfully created in this manner, it can’t be configured from the ODBC Administrator, however, it is a plain text file that can be edited to change its settings.

This type of file DSN is known as a shareable file DSN - if you arrange for it to be shared by multiple machines (each with the c-tree ODBC Driver installed), it will serve as an ODBC data source that is identically configured on all of these machines.